Premiership predictions: betting preview, free rugby union tips & TV details

Free rugby tips, best bets and analysis for Saturday's Premiership matches in England.

Newcastle v Gloucester

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 2pm Saturday

Best bet

Newcastle to win by one to 12 points
1pt 7-4 Betfair

Match preview

Over the course of the season Newcastle and Gloucester may prove to be falsely placed in the early stages of the Premiership standings but for now the Falcons can claim another victory at Kingston Park.

Newcastle opened with three successive wins and were awarded a fourth by default before going down fighting against Bristol last week.

Their battling nature is underlined by the fact that the Falcons were sizeable handicap underdogs in all three of those wins but they are favourites for this clash, although a two-point line indicates how tight it is expected to be.

Promoted Newcastle will have benefited from a longer close-season - the Championship campaign was ended in March while Premiership sides had to return to the fray in August and had barely three weeks between campaigns. They also have Brett Connon back at fly-half and Scotland prop Gary Graham, who scored two tries in their opening game at Bath, returning from injury.

Gloucester put up a decent fight at Exeter in their last away match and were beaten by a late try from Sale last week.

But Newcastle seem to have found their feet already while Gloucester are still looking to hit their stride and a narrow home win looks the best bet.

Exeter v Bristol

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 4.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Bristol +7
2pts 10-11 general

Match preview

If Newcastle and Gloucester appear falsely placed in the table Exeter and Bristol certainly don't and there are high hopes that the top two will serve up a humdinger at Sandy Park.

Exeter are smarting from defeat to Wasps last week and have their England internationals Luke Cowan-Dickie, Harry Williams and Jonny Hill back in the pack having rested them for the Ricoh Arena reverse.

Bristol are also strong, with number eight Ben Earl back at number eight while winger Luke Morahan makes his first start of the season in a backline also featuring Semi Radrada and Charles Piutau.

All the ingredients are there for a fine contest, and after Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter was taken to task by his players last week for suggesting it was "okay to lose", neither side is likely to take a step back.

Last season the away team won both fixtures between these teams - each time by a margin of three points - while the season before Exeter won both games by margins of two and five points.

Given that history and the strength and ambition of both clubs, a seven-point start for the visitors looks big.

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